1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for monitoring a network device including an image forming apparatus using a network communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-304005 discusses a management system for remotely monitoring an image forming apparatus, e.g., a copying machine, via a network. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-304005 further discusses that a remote diagnosis station includes a database for managing a plurality of communication protocols usable in a communication between the diagnosis station and a plurality of copying machines. A format to be used in reading data is determined based on a protocol identifier contained in communication information received from the copying machine. As described above, a communication protocol for communicating with a device is determined.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-304005, the communication protocol for communicating with the copying machine registered as an object to be monitored can be specified to start monitoring. However, no determination is made as to whether or not the copying machine found in a search is to be set as a new object to be monitored.
In a case where a copying machine is found by the search, if the communication protocol thereof is specified to start monitoring by using a management system without exception, a duplicative management may be performed in a case where the found copying machine already belongs to another existing monitoring system.
Normally, in such a massive environment where more than several hundreds of image forming apparatuses such as the copying machines are connected to each other on the network, it is difficult to manually register an image forming apparatus to be monitored and set it as an object to be monitored. It is also troublesome work for an administrator to identify and select the image forming apparatus that is not yet monitored by the existing monitoring system among the image forming apparatuses found as a result of the search by the management system.
That is because device management information such as a device name of the found image forming apparatus can be acquired in the processing performed in a normal network search, however, special monitoring information indicating whether or not the found image forming apparatus has already been monitored is not acquired.
To acquire the monitoring information for each image forming apparatus among a vast number of image forming apparatuses thus found and to perform determination processing, e.g., filtering, imposes a remarkably heavy load onto the management system.
Therefore, to select the image forming apparatus to be monitored by the management system requires a cumbersome work for the administrator.